Forest of Needwood 5 Miler

This week's post is a little different. Because I ran a race today!!

Brief recap of my week: I ran according to my training plan with 5 miles on both Monday and Thursday. I ran 3.1 on Tuesday. Continued to be a slacker and not lift or cross train. Maybe this summer when I have a little extra time??

I'm still using SparkPeople to track my calories. I've been surprised that I'm not eating as much protein as I thought I was. That may explain why I'm chronically extremely tired so I'm going to look at some more protein-rich snack type foods. Any ideas? Please leave me a comment!

Alright, on to the fun stuff. The race!! This one was a little different because it didn't start until 1pm and it started just down the street from my house. Very cool!

At 11am the kids and I moseyed over to the church parking lot where they had same day registration. Got all signed up, picked up my shirt, chatted for a bit and headed home to get the kids set up for cheering me on at the finish.

Ella, Hank and I made posters for them to hold.

I was really nervous about this race because I run this exact route at least twice a week. That means I knew about all the hills coming up, especially the one I call Big Bertha. Also with a 1pm start my whole eating and drinking schedule was off. I have to run on an empty stomach or else (and we'll leave it at that!). It was also really warm today and there's no shade for the last 3 miles. Any more strikes against me and I'm toast!

I was really happy that one of my friends was able to make it at the last minute. She's a 'real' runner - she ran a race up Mt Washington!! - and she's a great encourager so I was happy she could come. So we all lined up, the mayor of a nearby town fired the gun, and off we went.

One of the challenges with a smaller race is the temptation to keep up with the pack. Unfortunately I gave in and ran an 8:37 for my first mile. I *never* run this fast, and I knew I would need to slow way down if I wanted to finish the race without dropping over.

I was able to back off to a more normal pace for miles 2 and 3 running around 9:40 each. Mile 4 ended at the top of Big Bertha and I had to stop and walk about a third of the way up. After that I knew I was home free if I could just keep running. I ran miles 4 and 5 about a 10:30 or so (I lost track!).

I crossed the finish line at 48:33 which breaks down to a 9:43 average pace. I prefer to run even splits because the race is much less painful that way. One day I'll learn how to actually do that in a race. :)

I seriously thought I was almost in last place most of the race. The guy in the orange shirt passed me during mile 3, and the lady in the green shorts passed me just before Big Bertha. When I got to the top of Big Bertha I looked back and saw only one person. I was determined the guy in the red shirt was not going to pass me. I mustered some oomph at the end to pass orange shirt guy but he had more gas in the tank than I and finished just ahead of me.

I like to stick around for door prizes at the end, not because I ever win anything-because I don't- but because they're fun. Well, this time I won a key chain with an LED light; pretty cool.

On my way up to claim my prize while telling the guy how to pronounce my last name.

You can't really see the key chain because I'm holding with my water bottle but here's photographic evidence of me winning a door prize!

And, get this, I won SECOND in my age group! Yes, it was a small race and I run like a turtle, but I was the second fastest 40-49 year old lady turtle out there! And I wasn't second from last afterall. A whole slew of people came in a few minutes after I did. The mind games I play with myself. Argh!


Overall it was a fun and challenging race. I'm glad my friend was able to come, too (she won FIRST in her age group!). I'll take tomorrow off and start again on Monday!

Head over to Denise's blog and see what other Fit Mommies are doing!